A water based pillow is disclosed in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,931 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,388 where a water envelope is positioned adjacent a base portion of a pillow and supports a compressible fill material thereabove. This pillow has proven quite successful and has been found to assist those who suffer from headaches and neck pain.
Other pillows have used an air bladder for supporting of a compressible fill material, however, these pillows have not proven particularly effective. In addition, some pillows have used a fluid retaining envelope with a series of partitions or partial seals for modifying the fluid distribution in the pillow. For example, my co-pending Canadian Patent 2,314,440 discloses a number of envelope designs where different seal areas are provided for modifying the distribution of fluid and fluid flow within the envelope.
In a pillow having an envelope for receiving of a fluid such as water, there are applications where it is desirable to modify the envelope in a manner to reduce the amount of fluid necessary for the pillow to provide the same desired fluid support and fluid flow characteristics. The reduction in fluid would reduce the weight of the pillow and also reduce the thermal mass of the fluid layer.
Various attempts to produce a water pillow which operates in a satisfactory manner and has reduced weight have been proposed, however, these attempts have not been successful.
The present invention provides a water based pillow with improved water distribution properties for providing specific head and neck support.